NEWS

On Saturday, April 1, 2023, the Spring Entrance Ceremony was held on the APU campus, welcoming 1,133 new students to the APU community. This spring, 997 undergraduate students from 38 countries and regions (747 domestic students, 250 international students) and 30 graduate students (1 domestic student, 29 international students) from 15 countries and regions enrolled. The number of exchange students and non-degree students accepted was 106 (15 domestic students, 91 international students) from 29 countries and regions.

In April 2023, APU opened its new College of Sustainability and Tourism, which is the first new college since the university’s establishment, as well as implemented reforms for its two existing colleges, the College of Asia Pacific Studies and the College of International Management. This new, three-college system is the New APU. This time, to celebrate the New APU, on the eve of the ceremony, the university held a celebration of fireworks and student shop stands. On the day of the ceremony, a special lecture as well as student performances were held to welcome new students, making it a special entrance ceremony. This was the first time since fall 2014 that the ceremony was held on campus.

Prior to the entrance ceremony, Professor Fumio Ohtake, Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University, gave a lecture titled "The Power of Social Sciences: Challenging Social Issues with Economics." Behavioral economics and social sciences were explained using familiar and easy-to-understand cases such as infectious diseases. On top of that, social science, which is the academic field of APU, must solve problems that are difficult to prove experimentally. For that reason, students have to imagine half-facts and test hypotheses, so he instructed the students to read many books, including the classics, and discuss with friends and professors to explore diverse ideas. Finally, Professor Ohtake delivered a powerful message, "Choose change at APU!" along with words of congratulations.
(You can watch his special lecture here.)

At the ceremony, President Deguchi gave words of congratulations and put forth three things that he would like students to keep in mind: take action, make many friends, and lastly, "people, books, and travel.”
(You can read the President’s message to new students as well as his recommended books list here）

NGUYEN Van Anh (College of Asia Pacific Studies, 3rd year, Viet Nam) made a speech as a representative of current students. She encouraged new students, who are apart from their families, to think about what they want to do and have the courage to start doing it, while prioritizing their mental and physical health.

Yuto Yamaguchi (College of Sustainability and Tourism, Japan) made a speech as a representative of the new students in which he stated that APU is a place to train empathy skills by understanding the situations of others, and that these dialogues will lead to the realization of a sustainable society inclusive of all people.

SHUAIB A S M (Graduate School of Asia Pacific Studies, Ph.D., Bangladesh) gave a speech on behalf of the graduate students. SHUAIB, who experienced the entrance ceremony for the APU master's program online two years ago, welcomed the new students as their senpai. In addition, he expressed his determination to study urban planning to prevent future pandemics and called on the new students to work proactively to solve the various issues that relate to them.

You can watch the video of the ceremony here.